In Jesus Holy Name May 9, 2010
Text: Exodus 2:1-4 Mother’s Day
“A Love Without Limits ”
Happy Mother’s Day! On this mother’s day, the Church, the community of believers rejoices in the knowledge that the Savior’s tomb is empty. The empty tomb is God’s commitment to save us. His love is absolute and His care for us is uncompromising.
In the bible reading we just shared you know the name of the baby placed in a papyrus basket. His name was Moses. To avoid having her baby killed by Pharaoh’s death squads she hid her baby as long as she could and then she placed him in the basket. She didn’t just send the basket down the river… she had a plan. She placed the basket in the bulrushes near where Pharaoh’s daughter bathed and then she had the older sister watch the basket… then, there just might be a chance that Pharaoh’s daughter would fall in love with the beautiful baby. It was a high risk plan. But a mother’s love was willing to risk loosing her child, in order to save the child’s life.
Mothers have a powerful influence on the lives of their children. There is the story of 2 women who argued over a child in front of King Solomon. One mother said the child was hers, the other insisted it was hers. When Solomon ordered that the baby be cut in two… and half given to each woman. The false mother was delighted…. But the real mother was willing to surrender her child rather than have him killed.
Mothers have a powerful influence on their children and it is reflected in the amount of attention Mothers get that Father’s don’t. Did you realize that more cards are sent on Mother’s Day than Father’s day? There are more phone calls made on Mother’s Day to moms than there are to Fathers on Father’s day.
One man complained about this discrepancy, noting that he literally poured himself into his son’s life. He taught him to play baseball, football, basketball, took him hunting, fishing, taught him how to drive. And then, when the boy went off to college and played ball for the college team …. The network TV cameras focused on his son and guess what he said? “Hi, Mom”
Mother’s Day is a special day. We all have a mother; otherwise we would not be here. I hope and pray that your mother demonstrated selfless, “agape” love just as Moses’s mother did. I hope she pointed you to Jesus. As a mother or grandmother may your life, your behavior, enable the next generation to see Jesus.
A mother’s love is a great blessing. They help shape us and mold us. They serve as cook and counsel, barber, and budget director. Their love covers our short comings. Their faith overlooked our failures and encouraged us that tomorrow would be a new day… and they believed in us..
Love. Love is a big concept. Really too big for this short message. Last week we took the verb “love” and added action to an emotional word. We remembered what the apostle Paul wrote in Corinthians… Love has meaning when we practice patience, kindness…. And our words are not rude…and we do not keep a record of wrongs. Today I will only talk about a single component of God’s love and the love of a Christian mother.
This component is not on the list of attributes that theologians ascribe to God; like: omniscience, omnipotence, holiness, justice or grace. This word is not popular in our world. It is often disregarded. The word? The word is “commitment”.
In a world where love almost always seems to be conditional and contractual, commitment is a rare thing. In an age when you are supposed to be self-fulfilled, self-actualized, self-starting- the word commitment is unpopular. Which is why a mother’s love is so special and stands out like a lighthouse on a storm swept shore. A mother’s love is not dependent on what her child does, or doesn’t to, or worldly success. Mothers are committed to loving their children. And so is God.
God’s love is a committed love. God is omni-committed. His love is not rationed, regulated or restricted. God loves us. He calls us his children. When Adam and Eve fell into sin, God went looking for them. He was committed to saving them. He promised to send a savior. It was a promise He was committed to keeping.
On August 16th 1987 a Northwest Airlines flight took off from the Detroit airport. Soon after the take off the plane crashed on the a highway. 155 people died. When rescuers arrived among the carnage of cars and craft they found a 4 year old girl. She said her name was Cecelia. Because of Cecelia’s almost perfect condition it was thought she had been a passenger in a car rather than the plane. A quick check of the flight’s roster showed that had thought wrong.
Cecelia had been on flight 225. Cecelia had explained how in the plane’s last moments her mother, Paula, had unbuckled her seat belt, knelt in front of her daughter and held Cecelia as tightly as she could.
The mother put herself between her daughter and death. Love without limits.
God did the same in Jesus. If we celebrate the love of our mothers, how much more should we celebrate the love of our God? Who else but Jesus would come to seek and save the lost souls who were hiding? Who else would remain committed to showing a doubting world that God has been faithful in his commitment to rescue us from ourselves, to save us from sin and Satan? It is he who taught us to pray, ‘deliver us from the evil one.”
Jesus was born so that you and I might be saved. He lived, suffered and died so that his blood would cover our sins. He did what even the most compassionate and caring mother can not do: He rose from the dead. The empty tomb secures God’s commitment …that all who believe in Jesus will have eternal life. Jesus said: “I tell you the truth; whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and will not be condemned.” (John 5:24) “…for everyone who looks to the Son (of God) and believes in him shall have eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:40)
I would like to add a special thank you to Christian mothers. Like all moms, they carry picture albums packed with their children’s photos; they know more about Harry Potter and Dora than they do the President. They know all the Sesame Street songs. Christian mothers are special because they know they are the human window through which their children will see Jesus.
In 1995, Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s wrote in his book: “Well Done!” “When I was 11 years old, my adoptive grandmother took me to Michigan’s Gull Lake to be baptized by immersion. I really felt that I was accepted by God when I was baptized. But what I remember most about my baptism was that my Grandma Minnie made it happen. For her, Christianity meant more than doctrine you talked about on Sundays….. It meant teaching her grandson about faith…” in Jesus. Mothers and grandmothers have a powerful influence on the lives of their children and grandchildren.
I was going through my files on Mother’s Day and found some words of wisdom and advice for mothers. Years ago a family called and asked if I could have the funeral for their mother who had just passed away. As I met with the family they shared with me some of their mother’s favorite sayings. The words reflected her philosophy of life. Her dreams. Here are a few of the favorite sayings of Alta Pope the mother of Vicki Bandoni.
“Take care of those you love.”
“do more than is expected.”
“all that I am or hope to be I owe to my mother.”
“Other things may change us, but we start and end with family.”
“Plant flowers every spring.”
“When playing games with children, let them win.”
“don’t worry that you can’t give your kids the best of everything. Give them your very best.”
And my favorite: “Live so that when you children think of caring and integrity, they think of you.”
May God honor your walk in such a way that your little ones see the Savior and by the Spirit’s power, be kept from a shipwrecked life. Amen.
